Method for defining a relationship between an account and a group

Abstract

Defining a relationship between an account and a group. Accounts corresponding to different products are linked together to create a group so that group processing can be performed at the group level while independent processing of the accounts is performed at the account level. The relationship between a dependent account and the group is specified by a dependent strategy. A dependent strategy specified group level processing options for the account. The relationships between the accounts and the group are flexible to accommodate changes in the status of the group cardholders.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 298,521 now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,423 issued Mar. 4, 2008, entitled “Method for Defining a Relationship Between and Account and a Group,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, for all purposes, as if fully set forth herein.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]This invention relates in general to a method for defining a relationship between an account and a group, and more particularly to defining a flexible relationship between an account and a group that supports group processing at the group level while retaining independent processing of the account at the account level.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Many individuals hold more than one credit card. Additionally, an individual may hold the liable relationship for more than one credit card held by another individual or individuals. There are several types of credit card products available. Some cards are private ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0027]The relationship between each account in the group is flexible and can be modified. A group can contain some dependent accounts which process as completely subordinate accounts with no direct communication to the dependent cardholder and other dependent accounts which process as secondary or joint owners of the group with full disclosure of all group activity. Each defined dependent strategy can be used to define the relationship of any number of accounts to any number of groups. Also, each group can include dependent accounts with relationships defined by any number of different strategies. Additionally, an existing relationship between a given dependent account and a group can be changed from one strategy to another strategy. The ability to modify the dependent strategy allows the account processing to change as the cardholder's situation changes. Changing the dependent strategy of one of the dependent accounts does not impact the dependent strategies of the other dependent accounts.

Problems solved by technology

A disadvantage of providing the child with an additional card on an existing account is that the child has access to the entire credit line of the account.

A disadvantage of providing the child with a card on an account where the child is the primary user and the parent is the responsible party is that the parent's access to credit may be reduced.

If the parent also has another account, then the credit line given to the child is not available to the parent even if the child is not currently using it because the accounts are unrelated.

A disadvantage of providing the child with a secured card by providing collateral for the account is that the collateral is committed to secure the account regardless of the amount of activity on the account.

As a result of these market realities, issuers are faced with a challenge to manage an individual's whole relationship with them while offering the flexibility consumers desire in their product options.

This option also provides almost no functionality at the cardholder level.

This limits the issuer's ability to complete marketing analysis on individual group members.

This functionality does not solve the shared credit issues or the ability to make other processing decisions at the card level.

This functionality does not accommodate different types or versions of credit card products.

Although several authorization options exist, the restrictions are based on monthly spending limits rather than a true available credit.

Commercial cards also do not accommodate different types of cardholder relationships to the group.

For example, at one point, a child may not be able to qualify individually for a credit card and may need an individual, such as a parent to be the financially responsible party for the card.

Typically, this type of functionality does not provide an easy audit trail to find the accounts which were included in the scoring activity.

This functionality also does not allow management of distinct owners.

Images